NAB Marketing 102. Spaghetti

The urban myth is – you find out if spaghetti is done by taking  a piece and throwing it at the wall to see if it sticks.

However, one of the tips we shot for Healthy Flavors‘ “Mythbusters” show, explains this to be false, but it hasn’t stopped companies from trying the same tactic: when you don’t know what to make, make all kinds of things, throw it at the market, and see what sticks.

Is this a good idea?

NAB marketing 101… link correctly.

The barrage of NAB press release e-mails is raining down. So much so that, if you’re busy with projects, like I am, you dismiss most of them unless something really interesting catches your eye.

Only then do you say, “Okay. This sounds interesting enough for me to stop what I am doing and read this one little tidbit of information about this one thing.”

What happens next is exactly what should not.

Ya get what you pay for.

A good friend of mine, and fellow video pro, asked me:

By the way, EventDV is going all paid and digital?
I’m dropping my sub, don’t know about you.  

Well, The other mags are considerably thinner. I literally blew through the “NAB” issue of DV in 10 minutes- including reading the editor’s letter and several of the ad pages with products I hadn’t seen before. As ad revenues are down, it’s hard to pay for a gaggle of talented pros to spend hours, or even days testing, reviewing and writing. So articles get shorter, or thinner, or disappear altogether.  

So is $2 an issue is really worth it?

Smaller, More Powerful Computers.

As computing becomes ever more powerful, and “Netbooks” offer mobile computing power on the road with low-power chips, diminutive boxes with powerhouse capabilities are not only inevitable- they’re already here. While home theatre machines may be a “hobby” to some electronics companies, others are taking it seriously and offering some horsepower under the hood…

Is a digital still camera’s “HD Video” for real?

Just in for review and testing are the brand-spankin’ new Canon SX1 IS and the SX200 IS digital still cameras.

Both of these “super zoom” cameras also shoot HD video… BUT the 10 MP SX1 shoots 1080 with a CMOS sensor, the 12 MP SX200 shoots 720p with a CCD. I’ve spoken about “sensor issues” with the imagers in these cameras before. For comparison, I also have a Canon S2 IS  that seems to be about a stop to two stops faster with its larger, 5 MP, SD video, CCD chip. 

Which camera shoots better video… this is what I intend to find out in the coming days.